Page 4 of Property of Baffle
“Not sure if Roxy was responsible for this, but I’d get new condoms if I were you.”I snatched it out of his hand and groaned.There were rough little dots on the package, as if tiny little holes were poked in several spots.
“Fuck!”I yelled as I threw the package across the room.“Make sure every fucking condom in this clubhouse is purged and one of the men goes to get new supplies without a woman present,” I ordered as if I was in charge of Bigfoot and not the other way around.He didn’t take offense.“I don’t even want to ask the fucking questions.If she did this… I fucking can’t deal with this right now, man.”
“I’ll leave you to it.If you need me, I’m here.Not saying a word to anyone about what went down.That’s your story to keep or tell as you see fit.”When he got to the door, he turned and his shoulders slumped as he asked the most pertinent question possible.“Want me to make sure she gets the morning after pill before she heads out?”
I gave a nod and Bigfoot left me alone in my room to stew over Roxy’s betrayal and the potential consequences.
3Vegas Rescue
Nell
Three Years Later
My best friendwas about to marry the wrong man and I had to stop her.
Our friendship would not survive the news she needed to hear.Still, I couldn’t go through with being her stupid maid of honor, her roommate, and maybe not even her friend if her fiancé was going to remain in our sphere.
“What is it, Nell?You dragged me over here in the creepy hallway with your buzz-kill vibe, the least you can do is spit it out quickly and be done.It’s the night before my wedding.I’m supposed to be having fun.”
I stared at the woman who was once my ride or die bestie and wanted to vomit.I already knew what her reaction would be.It was written in the impatience, the snap in her tone, and the stiff way she held her shoulders.
“You already know,” I whispered.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”Elena sneered through those words even as her face bloomed red and her eyes refused to meet my own.
“You do,” I countered.“You know he’s slept with Ashley and Dawn at least.”The way she flinched back told me she may not have known about them - her other bridesmaids - but she knew about others before them.“You even know, somewhere deep under all your denials, that he tried the same shit with me last night.”
I pointed to my busted lip that throbbed with every word I spoke.Makeup could only do so much to cover it.“This was his response when I turned his sorry, cheating-ass down.”
Elena shook her head as if that devout belief she held in the illusion of her relationship would make what I was saying untrue.
“He punched me in the mouth.The only reason he didn’t take it further was because another man saw what he did and beat his ass for hurting me.How do you think he got that shiner?”
“Bull riding,” she growled her response, defensive to the last.
“Are you serious right now?”
“Mechanical bull riding with his best man last night.”I was appalled that she doubled down on the excuse he’d obviously fed her.
The added bits she tacked onto her fiancé’s bullshit excuse were insulting.The fact that she thought it made his story more believable in the face of the abuse I had suffered was disheartening.
“I don’t know why you’re making up lies about him, but it is not okay, Nellie.”
I threw my hands up in the air in frustration.Tension leaked from my bones and ejected itself from my body in an audible growl.It had been building since I knew this confrontation would have to happen.It only bubbled over when she confirmed my suspicions, that she would take his side over mine.
“You know what?”I asked.Elena didn’t take the bait.Rather than ask what was on my mind, she stood there with tears in her eyes and her arms crossed defiantly over her chest.“I can’t do this.If you want to legally tie yourself to a man who sticks his dick in all your so-called friends, or attempts to force the ones who refuse him, then that’s on you.You chose that over our friendship.I can’t and won’t be a part of it.I truly wish you the best and hope you wake the hell up and save yourself before you become more of a victim.I won’t stick around so he can try again with me.I love myself too much to willingly be put in that position again.”
I turned and walked away from the woman who had been my best friend for the past decade of our lives.There were people on the fringes of the hallway we had wandered down to have that shit show of a conversation but no one really stood out as I choked back my grief over letting a years-long friendship slip away.
“That’s it?You’re throwing away our friendship over a misunderstanding?”Elena yelled at my back.
I stopped and only turned my head slightly, so my voice would carry but I wouldn’t be able to see her.“Your fiancé attempted to rape me, and you’re still willing to marry him.That is not a misunderstanding.You threw our friendship away when you chose the cheating rapist instead of leaving here with the one loyal friend you had left.”
I put one foot in front of the other until I was swallowed up by the noises and general chaos of the casino floor once more.Before I could completely lose myself to the anonymity of the place, someone put their hand on my shoulder.
I flinched back on instinct and took a step to my left before I turned and saw the same handsome man from the night before.My rescuer.
“You,” I said, though the one word was probably lost to the noise of a nearby slot machine as it bleated an alarm signifying someone had just won.He was decked out head-to-toe in dark denim and leather.It seemed to match everything about him from his short-cropped black hair to his deeply tanned skin, and eyes that appeared black as night until the light hit them just right.He had a beard and mustache that remained closely trimmed to his face, so I could still make out the incredible jawline beneath.His lips were full but thinned just a bit on top as they pulled up at the corners into a smile that said he was pleased I recognized him.
